He was 98lbs of solid nerd before he became the Monster Hero of Tromaville!
Sausage Party co-director Conrad Vernon has signed to direct a remake of 1980s cult classic The Toxic Avenger from a script by Archer writers Mike Arnold and Chris Poole. It will be Vernon’s first foray into live-action having worked mainly in animation, co-directing Shrek 2 and Madagascar 3.
The Toxic Avenger-or Toxie, to his friends-has featured in several movies, an animated series, and an off-Broadway musical. He’s been around. With the massive success of the musical convincing them that the world was ready for Toxie to make a return, producers Richard Saperstein, Charlie Corwin and Akiva Goldsman acquired the film rights in 2010.
Directed by Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman, and released in 1984 The Toxic Avenger chronicles the evolution of Melvin Ferd from mere skin and bones to heroic heap of toxic waste. A dream come true. Melvin started out as the janitor of a health club who was bullied by the meaner customers, they tricked him into wearing a tutu and kissing a sheep. One night he lands in a vat of toxic waste, after being chased out of a second storey window. Thus he becomes the Toxic Avenger, and begins cleaning-his calling card is a mop-crime from the streets of Tromaville.
Like their predecessor the sequels mix comedy with gruesome horror, whilst the Toxic Avenger faced bigger threats. In Part II, Toxie travelled to Japan to face the malevolent company, Apocalypse Inc-the lovechild of bee killers Monsanto and wannabe water privateers Nestlé-which had the worst of intentions for both Tokyo and Tromaville. The final film in the trilogy pitted Toxie against Apocalypse Inc’s CEO, the Devil-surprise-in a battle for the whole of Tromaville.
It’s rumoured that The Toxic Avenger remake will be more family friendly than the original, aiming to provide ‘a green superhero for these environmentally conscious times.’Which will mark the second time Toxie has been a mascot for environmental issues. The first was in the cartoon Toxic Crusaders, where the Toxic Avenger fought alongside other environmentally considerate heroes to protect the Earth from alien polluters, the Smogulans. In the remake, Toxie will probably face axe-wielding climate change deniers or the CEOs of Monsanto and Nestlé.
If the remake is a success, the pressure will be for producers to fast track a sequel that reveals a larger superhero universe, quite possibly: The Toxic Avenger VS Nestlé’s Quicky the Nesquik Bunny (working title).
A release date is yet to be announced.
